Nite Times News

CHICAGO AREA TIMEX USER GROUP
1885-A YORKTOWN AVENUE

GREAT LAKES, ILLINOIS 60088
(312) 473-9415

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VOLUME 1 ISSUE 3 APRIL 1987
A A a S APRIL 1987

EDITOR’ S NOTES

I’m really pleased with the response that I've been getting
from our Timexers about the Nite-Times News. The whole idea was
to provide an informative online newsletter that could be
shared on any Timex/Sinclair supporting BBS. As will always be
the case here, I wish to thank all of our contributing writers
and everybody who has provided feedback.

The Nite-Times News is a Public Domain feature of the Nite
Owl Special BBS. If you desire to have a hard-copy mailed to
your home, please provide $6.00 per year to cover the cost of
postage. If you desire to reprint any articles that appear on
here, please provide credit to the author and where it came
from. If you have any Suggestions or would like to submit an
article, leave feedback to Gary Lessenberry (ID30) or write to
me at 1885A Yorktown Avenue, Great Lakes, Illinois 60088.
Articles that appear in this issue are:

Z-SI/O Serial Interface

Bringing New Life To your Old Ribbon

Specterm-64 Review

Timex Sinclair Publication Update

Specterm-64 File Conversion

T/S Computer Fest Update

Adding A TTL Monitor To The TS-2068

The Timex 1000 Clone

Zterm-64 Xmodem Fix

Z-SI/O SERIAL INTERFACE
Provided By Ed Grey

To put it simply, the Z-SI/O Card is the best RS-232C I/F
available for your T/S2068 at ANY PRICE. This rugged, well made
card, which plugs directly into the expansion port of your
2068, will allow you to Operate any computer peripherals that
require a serial (RS-232) port on your computer. This includes
printers and plotters and modems. The Z-SI/O provides a "real”

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

RS-232 connector (DB-25) and feeds through ALL of the BUSS
lines available on the rear of your 2068. Couple the 2Z-SI/0
card together with an RS-232 1200 baud modem and SPECTERM-64
software and you will be amazed. As of press time there are 2
versions of the Z-SI/O, one is compatible with the JLO Disk
System, and one for everything else. When ordering, please list
your peripherals so that we can assure compatibility. The
Z-SI/O employs the Intel type 8251 USART and supports 3 baud
rates (300, 1200, 19200) via software control. The 'STOCK'
Z-SI/O uses port 9F hex for DATA and port BF hex for
CONTROL/STATUS, The JLO DISK version of the Z-SI/O card uses
port D7 hex for DATA and port DF hex for CONTROL/STATUS. The
2-SI/O is sold with extensive documentation (a 25+ page user
manual) for only $79.00 plus $3.50 S&H (CANADA $6.00 S&H
minimum). For more information, write to Grey & Clifford
Computer Products, P.O.Box #2186, Inglewood, CA 90305

BRINGING NEW LIFE TO YOUR OLD RIBBONS
By Mike Potter

If you own an Epson printer or another printer that utilizes
a plastic housing for it's ribbon, you may be able to revive
that old ribbon so it prints as if it were new. To do this, all
you need is a small screwdriver, a can of WD-40, and a small
motor (1.5 VDC available at Radio Shack). This may sound
strange, but it really is quite easy and inexpensive.

Remove your ribbon from your printer and look at it in a
good light. You will notice that there is a rather light area
to the ribbon ‘the area that your print head strikes) and
darker areas above and below the light one (see figure 1). The
dark area of the ribbon is really ink that just dried up from
the heat of your printer running or merely time passing. That
is where the WD-40 comes in. With the screwdriver, gently pry
the top lid off your ribbon cartridge. If it is not removable,
don't attempt this because you may just end up ruining your
ribbon. However, all Epson cartridges can be taken apart. You
will notice that the loop of ribbon is loosely jumbled around
the inside of the cartridge, this is normal and must not be
tampered with. Spray a light coating of WD-40 over the ribbon
to wet it. You don’t want to drown it! The purpose of this is
to loosen up the dried ink and spread it over the surface of
the ribbon again, thus ”re-inking” it. Now close the cartridge
back up.

RTA “PATH IF |
EAN PRINTHEAD |

FIGURE L FrmuRe &

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

Do not us your ribbon yet! It must be completely dry first!
This is where the motor comes into play. Locate the small hole
on the bottom of the cartridge (see figure 2). This is where
the printer moves the ribbon and it is also where you will
insert the motor with a gear that will fit into the hole. This
will allow you to use the motor to spin the ribbon and air dry
it. This also allows the ribbon to dry evenly. The process of
drying could take as long as 24 hours, but be patient! If the
ribbon is not completely dry, it will print in splotches and
may even ruin your print head.

The other alternative you have to using the motor is to spin
the ribbon by hand using the knob on the cartridge. This
however, is a very time consuming chore and only recommended if
you are EXTREMELY bored. Happy Re-inking!

SPECTERM-64 V 4.0 & 4.1
By Pete Fischer

This program first appeared as a commercial program in
England where it is widely used on the Spectrum. Grey &
Clifford Computer Products obtained the rights to sell it in
the U.S. as modified for the 2068. Version 4.0 ran only in
Spectrum mode. There are both Spectrum & 2068 versions of
version 4.1,

: NOTE: I originally reviewed !
: this software in Ver. 1.0 of !
: "The T/S Guide to Telecommun-!
: ications”. Much of that re- |!
: view proved erroneous. Please!
! read the following carefully !

The Big news here is Telecommunications at 1200 B.P.S. on
the 2068. This is the ONLY way to achieve that speed on this
computer. How can I describe 1200 BPS? Well, let me put it this
way: If you bought a magazine and could only look at 10 square
inches at a time and had to read the ENTIRE MAGAZINE in
sequence, that’s 300 BPS. But 1200 is like skipping through
till you find the part you want, and THEN stopping to read.
It’s much more satisfying and efficient. It also puts Long
Distance telecommunications in a "whole other dimension”, As I
mentioned elsewhere, an xmodem transfer at 1200 BPS takes ONE
EIGHTH the time of a HEX transfer at 300 BPS; with the
additional benefit that it's error-free. Once you begin serious
downloading, you will truely appreciate this! The second big
feature of this software is its versatility which is manifest
in a block of 7K designated as a permanent BASIC component.
That is, permanent all the time you're online, it dosen't get
erased like the buffer in MTERM. However you can easily change
it by loading a different version. What good is that block of
memory? Well one MAJOR use is to interface the program to YOUR
mass storage, WHATEVER that may be: Micrdrive, Disk Drive or
Ramdisk (coming soon).

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

The next major use is to interface a WIDE range of modems
which is particularly easy with the use of the Z-SI/O Card, but
also possible through other RS-232 interfaces, What else? Well
there have been a wide variety of utilities written for MTERM,
over the years, all squeezed into small blocks of memory left
over by accident . The 7K Block of the Specterm software is a
LARGE BLOCK by comparison. In it you could easily put printer
drivers or auto-save routines or a number of other utilities
all at the same time!

Those routines used to I/F the mass storage and modems are
called OVERLAYS, and were developed long ago by CP/M
programmers to allow easy modification of a program without
divulging the SOURCE CODE. When you buy Specterm-64, what
you're buying is the CODE. But packaged with it, as a
convenience are some examples of these OVERLAYS.

In my first review, I said, quite negatively, that you need
to enter a long BASIC statement in order to check the buffer.
That was ABSOLUTELY FALSE! You can simply incorporate this
statement into the BASIC component, and thus easily check the
buffer, simply by escaping to BASIC. In fact, this routine is
provided in the stock tape as it comes from Grey & Clifford. I
had simply failed to load that particular Overlay.

This terminal generates 64 columns WITHOUT the use of the
OS-64 cartridge. This in itself turns out to be a big feature.
Nearly all BBS’ are configured for 80 columns, and while it
isn't perfect, 64 col. is MUCH closer. A monitor is pretty
essential, one I bought for $30 worked great. The character set
has been designed to add readability (better than Tasword, I
think). Once you get used to 64 col.,it's difficult to go back
to 32 col. for terminal work. The 64 col. DRAMATICALLY
increases the amount of information on the screen at any one
time. All too often, at 32 col., by the time you get to the
bottom of a menu, the top has scrolled off the screen. Then you
have to work from memory. This NEVER happens with 64 col. In
addition, the ARRANGEMENT of the menu on the screen makes it
easier to follow. In my original review, I decried the lack of
80 col. printing facility. Besides the potential to add one
thru the 7K BASIC area, buffer saves are COMPLETELY Tasword-II
compatible. Although they may be too long, it's easy to break
them up with UNLOADER, then simply load the File into Tasword
and print from there,

Also, in my original review I stated that, upon downloading,
it was impossible to tell if the transfer was successful or
not. THAT WAS ALSO INCORRECT. The blinking ”R” on the screen
tells you it’s a successful transfer, Another mistake I made in
my first review was when I said, "If you forget the Caps-lock
and enter a lower case letter in command mode....you must then
reboot the program.” Not true at all! ‘are you beginning to see
how BADLY I mangled the first review?) If you make the above
error, it will simply refuse the command until you use a
capitol letter. It will lock up and need rebooting if you go
offline (using the 2050 modem) and fail to immediately escape
to BASIC. However, once you understand this, there's no
problen.

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

Since my original review, I’ve put this program through a
great deal of testing, spending hours and hours online & making
over 100 downloads and uploads of all descriptions. I moved
AMIGA files, MAC files, IBM files text files 4 Etc. It worked
beautifully. There WERE failures but none 1 couldn't eventually
trace to operator error or host error. The trick to moving
files of foreign computers is this: don't SAVE/LOAD it. Call
board A, D/L a file, disconnect, call board B and U/L. As I
said, I did this MANY times with great success,

One feature I grew to like more and more was the speed of
the keyboard. The Keyboard scan routine on MTERM is a very slow
one. Put mildly, it's a PAIN. I can, and frequently do,
out-type it. But the joy of the Specterm is that I can type
MUCH much faster, This is great on L.D. calls! Specterm also
gives you "audio feedback” for each keypress. I really missed
it when I went back to other terms. My experience showed that
Ver. 4.0 was a bit TOO fast, but both versions of 4.1 are
adjustable, so you can select the speed you want. The new
version also allows for color control of the screen,

One of the best things about this program is the certainty
of future support. You will be hard pressed to find any two
people who are more knowledgeable or have done more for T/S
Telecommunications than Ed Grey and Dave Clifford. Their
Support is available both by voice and by data, the latter in
the form of the TIME<X>CHANGE BBS. They and fellow users are
currenly working on utilities & Overlays to enhance the program
which are available for download on the BBS free.

So the big reasons for going to Specterm 64 are these:

1)1200 BPS communications, the ONLY way to do this w/2068

2) Tremendous versatility in the form of a wide-open 7K BASIC
Component thus enabling direct access to your mass storage
device and/or a wide variety of modens.

3) VERY active continued Support for the system with new
utilities & additions all the time-available on the
TIME<X>CHANGE BBS.

4)The size of the buffer:31K+

S>Better display & no need for the OS-64 cartridge.

6>Faster keyboard (The newest version lets you adjust)

7)Allows you to use nearly ANY RS-232 modem (the industry
standard) when used with the Z-SI/O Card,

The main differences between version 4.0 and the two
versions 4.1 (both Spectrum % TS 2068) are these:

A.)There is no 2068 version 4.@,only Spectrum

B> You can adjust the speed of the keyboard on 4.1 not on
4.0.
©The new version has a "relaxed" xmodem which works
perfectly on PC Pursuit.

D>) You can change the screen color on Ver.4.1, you couldn’t
on 4.0. If you own 4.0 and want to upgrade to the SPECTRUM
version of 4.1, it will cost you $5.00,

If you want the 2068 version 4.1 then it will cost you $30

from Grey & Clifford Computer Products/POBox 2186/Inglewood, CA

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

TIMEX SINCLAIR PUBLICATIONS UPDATE
By Gary Lessenberry

I have recieved word that I failed to list at least three

Timex/Sinclair publications in out March issue. They are:

1, Sinclair User, EEC Publications, 30-31 Islington Green,

` London N1 8BJ, United Kingdom

2. YOUR SINCLAIR, 14 Rathbone Place, London W1P 1DE,
United Kingdom

3. I.S.T.U.G. NewsLetter, c/o Frank Davis, 513 East Main
Street, Peru, IN 46970

4. Computers & Video Games (Sunscribtion Dept>, Competition

House, Farmdon Road, Market Harborough, Leicestershire,
United Kingdom

SPECTERM-64 FILE CONVERSION
Provided By Ed Grey

Programs that have been uploaded to a BBS via the
Specterm-64 Xmodem and then downloaded using the Loader V
Xmodem for Mterm are not immediately usable. Before attempting

to save your downloaded program, perform the following steps
first:

Download the Specterm-64 program using Loader V.
Exit to BASIC

enter PRINT PEEK 23635 (this value is usually 86)
add 32 to the value in step 3 ‘usually 86+32=118)

enter POKE 23635, 118 (or whatever the sum in step 4 is)
enter LIST

enter SAVE "name”

NO OP WON PF

SINCLAIR/TIMEX MIDWEST COMPUTER FEST UPDATE
Provided By Gary Lessenberry

In a few short weeks, the secind annual Sinclair/Timex
Midwest Computer Fest will be underway in Indianapolis. At this
time, there are 34 vendors and eight user groups that will be
represented. The Fest will operate 9:00 AM to 6:00 PM on May
2nd and 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM on May 3rd. There will be 24
different seminars, special dealer discounts and Flea market/
Swap Area. Tickets at the door are $6.00 for a single and $9.00
for a family. The location is the Holiday Inn North (317) 872
29790, 3850 DePauw Boulevard, Indianapolis. To get there: Take
interstae [-65 south to interstate I-465 east, exit southbound
on US 421 (Exit 37) and the Holiday Inn on your left as you
drive south on US 421,

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

ADDING A TTL MONITOR TO YOUR TS-2068
By Gary Lessenberry

Have you ever tried to work in 64 colunm mode with a color
television? Although your color TV is fine for 32 column text
and games, it can be a visual nightmare with 64 column text.
Like many of us, I was hessitant to spend $200+ for an RGB
monitor and a composite monitor just wasn't quite clear enough
to make it worthwhile. The solution was one of the many
monochrome TTL monitors that can be found in the Computer
Shopper each month for $20 or so. Several of us ordered
Panasonic Model K-904B1 displays from BG Micro. These are brand
new units that come with a service manual. The monitors were
uncased and without a power supply. Building a retangular
wooden box to set the chasis in was easy. However, the power
supply was a little more difficult. It required a 12 VDC, 1 Amp
power supply which can be expensive when purchased over the
counter. 1 found a power supply from Jameco Electronics (Part
#PS72559) that sold for $14.95 and provides a single power
source for my monitor, TS-2068, Disk Drives (2), TS-2050 and
WICO Trackball. I will explain how to interface this power
supply in an article in our May issue.

I now had everything that I needed, except for an interface.

TTL monitor interfaces are not available on the TS market. Our
TTL interface is actually a a modification of the John Oliger
RGB interface. The pins of you TS-2068 edge card that are used
for this are:

B4 ¢+5VDC) B27 (Red)

B28 (Green) B29 (Blue?)

B31 (Video» B32 (Ground)

Side B of the 2068 motherboard is the non-component side.
There are two steps to this project: modifying the 2068 and

building the TTL interface.
Parts for this project include:
74HC00 Quad AND Gate IC (U2)
7432 Quad OR Gate IC (U1)
47K ohm, 1/8 watt resistor (R2)
1K ohm variable resistor (R1)
32 pin edge connector
ribbon cable
perferated board
wire wrap wire
soldering iron & solder
exacto knife (to cut trace)

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APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

The modification to the 2068 is an easy one (see fig 3), cut
the trace that terminates immediately behind edge slot A31 on
the top (component side) of the motherboard. Solder a Jumper
(using wire wrap wire) from the center leg of Q5 to the solder
dot at the right of the severed trace. This allows the DC
clamped b/w composite video at the base of Q5 to be delivered
to the edge connnector pin B31.

On your perferated board, you will constuct the two
interface circuits shown in figures 1 & 2. To OR gate the RGB
Signals into a compatible video signal (fig 1), construct the
following: B27 (RED) to U1/1, B28 (GREEN) to U1l/2, B29 (BLUE)
to U1/4, B32 (GROUND) to Ul/5 & U1/7, B4 (+5vdc) to U1/14, Ul/3
to U1/9, Ul/6 to U1l/10, U1/8 to R1, B32 CGROUND> to R2. The
second circuit on the perferated card (fig 2) will provide the
horizontal and vertical syncs. Construct the following: B31
(VIDEO) to R2, R2 to U2/1, B4 (+5vdc)> to U2/2 & U2/14, U2/3 to
U2/4 & U2/5, B32 (GROUND) to U2/7. The outputs from this
interface will go to the following: U2/6 ‘positive syne input)
to the vert sync and horiz sync on monitor, R1 wiper (video
input) to the video input on monitor.

This monitor will provide you with the cleanest, clearest
high resolution text of any monitor available for the TS-2068.
However, be advised that since the colors are all gated
together, you will display only color or black. If you are
using a program that that has the ink, boarder and paper at
colors other than black, your screen with be solid green
without any distinguishing features! The best combination of
boarder, paper and ink are boarder 0, paper 0 and ink 7.

AN UNDERSTANDING OF BAUD RATES
By Gary Lessenberry

Anybody who has ever played with a modem can easily refer to
the devices speed as measure by it’s BAUD rate. To put it in
it’s simplest terms, baud rate is the same as saying BPS (bits
per second). Thus a 300 baud modem can transfer at a rate of
300 bits per second. We may assume that we will generate one
start bit, one stop bit and eight data bits for each character
that we transfer. Therefore, we now know that our 300 baud
modems are exchanging information at a rate of 300 bits per
second or 30 characters per second.

TIMEX 1000 CLONE
By Ken Duda

If you own a Timex/1000 or ZX-81, then you must remember all
the things you wished Timex or Sinclair would have done to
improve the ZX-81/1000. Well about a month ago I saw an
advertisement in a magazine for a PC 8300 computer. They had
claimed it would run on all Timex/ZX-81 software, among other
things. Being only $ 29,95 I thought how could I go wrong.

After a few weeks I recived the PC 8300. And to my suprise,

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

after opening the box it came in, I found this little jewel to
be made in CHINA. The instruction book that came with it was in
both Chinise and English. The computer itself had undergone
some major changes. A little to late for some of us, but not
for some group's that are still heavy into the ZX/1000,

The first thing that strikes your eye, is the case. Instead
of the small square black case with membrane keys, you will now
find a case that looks very similar to the Timex/Sinclair 2068,
including the chiclet type keys. It is cream colored with green
keys. There are nolonger any connections on the side.
Everything is to be found on the backside, starting from left
to right (looking at the rear), DC Power, EAR, MIC, MONITOR,
EDGE CONNECTOR (dead center), JOYSTICK PORT, TV plug.

I started out by useing the Monitor plug and composit vidio
monitor. After pluging in the power supply, I was greeted with
a message in the top left hand of the screen. One word "READY"
white letters on a black back ground (inverse screen). After
playing with it for about a half hour or so I found the
following. The only single key functions left are the math
symbols, all others must be typed in. It has a line number key,
for example, type in 1Q9FORA=1T020---press ENTER, and when it
goes to the top of the screen you will see, 10 FOR A=1 TO 20,
All spaces have been added for you. Now press the Line Number
Key and a 20 will apear, ect.

It has a RESET key top right side of the keyboard next to
the power on LED bulb. All Graphics symbles are located on the
last three rows of keys, instead of the top. No more shifting
to get the proper graphics, what you see is what you get. The
arrow keys are at the bottom center row of keys, and the
Joystick port I mentioned early on, is tied into then. «no
stick command) It even has a built in programmable speaker. And
I might add, that its pretty loud. They give example’s of some
songs that can be played in the manaul.

The keys themself give a BEEP sound as you press them when
typing in a program. The top row of keys give the higher pitch,
low row lowest. You can turn it off by just typing in ”NOBEEP”
and ENTER. If you still have your old 16K RAM pack, just plug
it in, it will work. And it won't crash like the old ZX/1000
did. The ram pack does not touch the table surface, and is a
very tight fit. There is more, but I think I'll give someone
eles a chance to write about it. If your interested in getting
one, the address is as follows:

American Design Components, 62 Joseph Street, Moonachie,

New Jersey 07074, telephone (800) 524-0809

ZTERM-64 XMODEM FIX
By Edwin L. Schoen

The patches I have made for Zterm-64 were at the request of
Gary Lessenberry who communicated with one of the original
Zterm programmers, Jeff Street. According to them, the problems
were concerning the final blocks of both the SEND and RECEIVE
functions. When sending, Zterm did not fill the last block with

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

CTRL-Z's when the data in the block was less than 128 bytes
long. When receiving, it left the CTRL-Z's (that were being
used as a last block filler) within the buffer which will
corrupt the data and sometimes hang up your receiver,
especially if the file was a program.

The first problem was easy to fix, and hard to find a memory
location to implement. However, because Zterm-64 is so nicely
written (Modular, to coin a buzz-word), I was able to simply
change the fill character at location 57875 to a 26 (CTRL-Z)
and jump back into the part of the program that stores a byte
and updates the checksum which the original program never did
for its fill character (NULL).

The second problem of removing the fill characters
(CTRL-Z's) from a final block was much more difficult, since
Zterm makes no attempt to update ELINE and other system
variables except PROG (start of buffer address 31510) and VARS
‘end of buffer+1>. It may be of interest that when you enter
Zterm, PROG=31510=VARS and this address contains 128 and RAMTOP
‘PEEK 23730) points to 49151. Thus, the usable area of memory
is 49151-31510 = 17641 bytes. Zterm only allows the use of
17000 bytes for send/receive and presunably the extra 641 bytes
are reserved for the stack. Note that when doing an xmodem
receive, the Zterm buffer will reflect the total number of
bytes recieved, including the filler. Therefore, its buffer
value ‘a multiple of 128) may not match the value of the
sender’s buffer.

Getting back to the fix for receiving data via Xmoden. I
found that the area immediately after Zterm ‘address 58602) was
not used and this is where my patches are now located. These
patches backup the end of buffer pointer (VARS) over all the
CTRL-Z filler (58620=26=CTRL-Z) and terminate when any other
character is found. If the terminal character is a CR or LF,
the patches simply bump VARS up one byte and inserts the start
of VARS marker (128). If the terminal character is anything
else, the patched append a CR as the last byte of the buffer
and then bumps VARS beyond the CR where they insert the 128
marker.

* KK KK KK K ok ok ok ok ok ok ok XK
x Zterm Patch Program Listing x
KKK KK KK KK KK KK ok ok oxk

10 REM This BASIC program contains my fixes for the Zterm-64
Xmodem bugs. They take care of the problems with the last block
sent or received.

12 REM Simply CLEAR 47000, LOAD "ztermcod” CODE and then RUN
this program. That's All Folks!

14 REM The first fix pads an incomplete final block with
CTRL-Z's when sending. The second fix removes the CNT-Z's from
the last block received.

16 REM Zterm-64 Fixes by:

18 REM Edwin L. Schoen, 4/2/87

20 DATA 57874,4,62,26,24,242

22 DATA 58298, 2,234,228

24 DATA 58602,40,229,42,75,92,197,6,128,43,126,254

25 DATA 13,40,15,254,10,40,11,254,26,32

- 10 -

APRIL NITE-TIMES NEWS

26 DATA 4,16,240,24,9,35,54,13,35,54,128

27 DATA 34,75,92,193,225,205,127,194,201

30 REM Patch SEND buffer: GO SUB 60: REM Call my FIX
routine: GO SUB 60: REM Fix RECEIVE buffer end-pointer: GO SUB
60

40 SAVE "ztercod”CODE 47000, 16384

50 BEEP .25,10: BEEP .25,10: BEEP ,25,10: BEEP 1,6

51 BEEP .12,8: BEEP .12,8: BEEP .12,8: BEEP 1,5

52 STOP

60 READ Adrs: READ Size: FOR i=Adrs to Adrs+Siz-1: READ v:

POKE i,v: Next i: RETURN
This BASIC program is available for download in the Timex
Upload/Download area of the Nite Owl Special BBS.

TIMEX/SINCLAIR NEWS AND TIPS
By Gary Lessenberry

According to Pete Fischer, Timex has discontinued the repair
of their computers. When asked "Why?”, a representative of
Timex said that they only offered the repair services for three
years since they had ceased marketing the computers because
they were required to by law.

Clive Sinclair has developed another computer called the Z88
from Cambridge Computers. It isa portable, lap-top computer
that is Z80 based, with an LED screen, built in software, 32k
of RAM ‘expandable to 4 meg). The text files are suppose to be
IBM compatible. This interesting little machine should sell for
$300.00 to $350.00 by the time it gets to this country. A
representative from Sharp's Inc, has indicated that they are
currently trying to get one of these for demo purposes during
the Midwest Timex Computerfest.

We have added yet another file to the Timex Info area of the
Nite Owl Special BBS General Library. It is a listing of Timex
Books. Our source was the 1985-1986 Books In Print and the
North Suburban Library System online card catalog system. If
you notice any books missing from this list, please let us
know.

To change from lower to upper case and visa versa when
writing programs in SUPERBASIC with your QL, you poke address
163976 with zero ‘for lower case) or anything other than zero
(for upper case).

The April issue of Modern Electronics has an article that
tells how to convert your old TS-1000 into a programable print
buffer.

TIMEX-SINCLAIR BBS LIST
CAPRIL 1987)

BULLETIN BOARD NUMBER NOTES RATES
TIME-=<X>=-CHANGE BBS... . . (213) 329-3922 8 HDQ 17/15
OMNI-NET BBS. . . ©.. a” (718) 837-2881 7 MD 16/14
BILL'S OBSESSION BBS. o. + + « (404) 377-2550 8 HD e@ 16/15
OWEGO FREE ACADEMY BBS. . . . . (607) 754-3420 8 LD 16/15
STU BBS. . > i. e » (2167 327-1000 3H D 15/14
SERIAL PORT BBS . . ©. . . (313) 286-0145 8 HD 15/13
NITE OWL SPECIAL BBS. ..... (312) 459-5721 8 MD -----
VSYS TIMEX/SINCLAIR BBS . . . . (201) 527-0535 7M@%? 16/15
QLCOM BBS . . . . . +. (201> 328-2919 7 MDOQ 16/15
FUTURE ELECTRONICS BBS. . . . . (813) 522-0350 7 L 17/15
FWKUG MBBS. . . . . o... . (214) 540-4183 8 D © 16/15
ISTUG BBS . . ea e rea (817) 898-3903 7 H 15/13
LOONEY BIN BBS. . . . . . . . . (619) 390-9470 7 L 17/15
THE TOXIC DUMP BBS. . . . . . . (609) 890-6347 8 L 16/15
THE TIME WARP BBS. .. . . . . (617) 755-0118 7 L % ? 16/15
THE NORTH POST. ...... . . (219) 256-5870 7 L % 15/12
TYLER TIMEX BBS. . . . . . . . (214) 593-3331 8 MD 16/15
FLEXI BBS ......... . . (617) 648-7651 8L 0%? 16/15
SINC CITY BBS... . + . . (617) 986-8449 7 MD 16/15
CLEVELAND FREE-NET BBS. . . . . (216) 368-3888 7 L @ 15/14
MAINSTREET DATA BBS... , . . (619) 439-6624 8 $ 16/15
STARTEXT; ue. oe ew) os BA 877-1041 6 M S 16/15
PEOPLE-LINK . . , ©.. . (800) 826-8855 8 M$ =====
PEOPLE-LINK IN AC 312 . vial » (312) 822-9712 8 M$ aso
COMPUSERVE; 00 4 y 4 e ABS AABS1S0 7 A DoS -aian
JINS- FIDO- a a 3 pe a a 4 505) 522-708 L8 L D 17/15
TEACHER'S PET BBS . vo... » « C704) 547-4185 8 LD % 16/15
R.M.G. BBS. . . Los o... (503) 656-8072 8 HOY 17/15
ALICES RESTAURANT BBS . vo... €914) 477-8017 7 L 16/15
KINGS MARKET BBS. . . . . . . . (303) 665-6091 8MDOC 16/15
TIME-HEX BBS. . . . . . . . . . (317) 362-8085 8 M % 15/13
THE BUS DEPOT BBS. . . . . . . (904) 262-6761 8 LD 16/15
LT-BBS**MET-DBS . . . . . . . . (805) 942-7301 8 MD 17/15
PGHTSUE BBS 3 + e s sow e aod AIO) 48150307 -SM D 15/14

FCCC OOOO OKO OK OOK KIO KOK

XX NOTES xx
PARAMETERS = 7/E/1
PARAMETERS = 8/N/1
TIMEX FILE TRANSFERS
LOW USAGE TIMEX MESSAGE BASE
MEDIUM USAGE TIMEX MESSAGE BASE
HIGH USAGE TIMEX MESSAGE BASE
SUBSCRIPTION REQUIRED
OPERATION DURING EVENINGS
ACCESSIBLE VIA PC PURSUIT
DOWN UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE

dVOXATIZFPouo

RATES ARE THE CHARGES FROM CHICAGO FOR THE FIRST
MINUTE & EACH FOLLOWING MINUTE AFTER 11:00 PM.

ASOCIA SISSI AAO A AAA AK KKK KKK KKK KKK KKKKKKKKKKKKKXX*X*